1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to brake systems for a shopping cart and more particularly pertains to a new shopping cart safety brake system for preventing a shopping cart from rolling away from a user.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of brake systems for a shopping cart is known in the prior art. More specifically, brake systems for a shopping cart heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,975; U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,517; U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,663; U.S. Pat. No. 3,276,550; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 339,096; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,366,201.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new shopping cart safety brake system. The inventive device includes a shopping cart and a generally rectangular inverted U-shaped connector member having a spaced apart pair of elongate side rods and an upper rod connecting the side rods together. The upper rod is positioned adjacent a handle bar of the shopping cart so that the side rods downwardly depend from the upper rod. Each of the lower ends of the side rods has a pivot arm pivotally coupled to the shopping cart at a pivot point. Each of the pivot arms has a brake pad which abuts an associated adjacent rear wheel of the shopping cart when the brake pads are pivoted towards an engaged position such that each brake pad holds the associated rear wheel against rotation.
In these respects, the shopping cart safety brake system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of prevent a shopping cart from rolling away from a user.